Secret Six #1 is worth the read. Gail Simone‘s (Batgirl) story is fast paced. There’s a bit of mystery as to who is assembling this version of the Secret Six and why. Not one panel is wasted. There are no filler sentences over-explaining the action. The art is rough. The textures from Ken Lashley‘s (Superman: Doomed) original pencils are left in the final product, and it gives the book the underground feeling that this version of the Secret Six needs.
The latest version of this team of antiheroes will again feature Catman. The last version of the team — post-Crisis and pre-New 52 — was obliterated in the 36th issue when Bane led the sextet to Gotham on a mission to assassinate Catwoman, but is outnumbered by the combined might of the Justice League and Titans. The first issue of the New 52 ends on a somewhat perilous note, and it makes you crave he next chapter. 4.5/5
The Harley Quinn Holiday Special was three mini-comics stuffed into one promising murder, mayhem, and merriment.
Well– they semi delivered.
I do have to say that no one was murdered. This could be part of the holiday spirit for Harley herself. The first one started off with Hardly not getting in her pets fixed and having numerous baby animals in the house. She has to taken then to get adopted at a local mall and has a hard time letting go.
Naturally she breaks into a house to check on one of them. She meets a little girl and gives her a life lesson in the only bubbly, terrifying way Harley can. The other two comics focus on Harley trying to get a “humbug” out of her ear (which is constantly singing Christmas songs on her ear) and trying to find “Father Time” because she found a grey hair. I do have to say that I always find Harley adorably crazy bit something about these three mini-comics had me wanting more.
2.75/5 Mystic Bibles
Bitch Planet #01, written by Kelly Sue Deconnick (Captain Marvel, Avengers Assemble), is about another planet being used as a women’s penitentiary. This prison uses a Catholic theme to keep their inmates in order, and it’s still unclear why some of them are sent there. Oh right, they were “non-compliant.” I would assume from a side story that the Earth is in complete male dominance, and any women who don’t bend to their men’s needs are sent away.
BOOM! Studios is quickly becoming my main source of comics. With the expected success of their Eric Powell and Brian Churilla team up on Big Trouble in Little China, Boom has taken on another iconic Kurt Russell character in their latest comic Escape from New York.
As a male nerd growing up in the early 90’s crushing on Jim Lee‘s drawn female figures, the closest we could come to going full nerd-gasm was with the “Bad Girl” trend that took place during the 90’s. With the likes of Witchblade or Chaos comic’s Lady Death, Purgatori and the little known Lady Demon a pubescent child finally had his first nerd super model. Recently Dynamite Comics picked up a few characters from Chaos, one of these is beautiful yet deadly Lady Demon.
Written by Aaron Gillespie, Lady Demon #1 hits the ground running. Aaron is creatively talented when showcasing these two entertaining aspects of Demons’s character. Similar to DC’s Firestorm mixed with tad of Marvel’s Ghost Rider, when innocent Violet and her boyfriend are slaughtered Lady Demon makes a deal to co-habitat her vessel and give Violet the retribution her soul needs. With art by the talented Mirka Andolfo (Damsels In Excess, Chaos), Lady Demon peaks your interest and keeps you flipping pages for just that right amount of violence, gore and PG-13 nudity. The Traveling nerd says read it and enjoy it, but don’t come in seeking high cerebral mental intriguing literature. 3/5 Smily’s agree!
@LUKEPOISONER
Valiant Comics once again deliver the high-stakes and wildly imaginative goods with this new, prestige format team/ crossover book: The Valiant. We are introduced once more to Gilad, The Eternal Warrior, and his never-ending ( and repeatedly failed ) duty to protect the Geomancer from The Immortal Enemy. Only this time Gilad has a little help from his friends: with Aric and his X-O Manowar Armor, the nanite-powered super-soldier Bloodshot, his own immortal brother Armstrong, and a more powerful Geomancer coming into her powers. But can our assembled heroes defend the spirit of the earth from the forces of entropy and decay; or will darkness reign yet again?
Ably plotted and scripted by Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Green Lantern) and his former Sweet Tooth cohort, Matt Kindt (Pistolwhip, Lost Girls), this first issue sets up all the pieces on the board clearly, with a steadily mounting tension. This book is going to be a blast come next issue. The artwork is somewhat of a curiosity; it is excellent, but not exactly the Paolo (and his dad, Joe) Rivera (Daredevil, Mythos) style I was perhaps expecting; he’s taken on some extra grit and quirkiness to these pages, so much so I initially almost thought he was working off Matt Kindt‘s breakdowns or something. If this is indicative of where Rivera’s style will go since his departure from Marvel, then it looks pretty exciting.
The Valiant promises to bring together the elements of the Valiant universe we haven’t seen interacting so much in the Unity or Harbinger titles; and aside from being a little saddened they haven’t included Archer, I cannot wait to see how Valiant’s heavy hitters fare against their absolute worst nightmare. 4.5/5 Defenders of the Faith
Very rarely have I finished a comic book where the only thought that ran through my mind was “what the frack was this?!” and no, not in a good way. You have to give Eric Larson (SuperPatriot, The Amazing Spider-Man)major, major props for doing this book for as long as he has been doing this. The issue is a pretty easy jump on point. For anyone who hasn’t read the book in forever, Larson recaps everything through casual dialogue which catches everyone up.
That’s not what got me.
It was the odd three-way that throws everything off for me in the book. If you read the book, you’ll understand. If you read Savage Dragon or like Eric Larson then you know his artwork (which I dig) and he continues stellar work slinging the pen and ink. The storyline is interesting and a slightly depowered Savage Dragon is actually a pretty cool idea.
But still, I come back to his son, Malcom and the crazy amount of sex that Larson has him and his girlfriend and his step/not stepsister have with each other. It read like a middle-aged man trying to relive what he wished his sex life had been when he was 18 years old. If I wanted this much sex I would have headed over to sex-hd.xxx, not picked up a comic book. Here’s to hoping that the next issue rights the ship. As it stands with this issue, this is for Savage Dragon fans only. 2/5 Fins.